Tuesday, January 10, 2006

But rather Mike Mallory, former standout Michigan linebacker of the mid '80s, was fired yesterday as defensive coordinator at Illinois. The Illini defense ranked 115th of 117 NCAA Division I teams in yards and points allowed in 2005. I watched some of the first half of the Illinois-Penn St. game and I can't believe there were two teams with weaker defenses than the Illini.

After his dismissal Mallory said, "We left on good terms, and I'm ready to move on." Might that move lead him back to Ann Arbor? I doubt it, though I wouldn't be surprised if Matt Millen offered him a ten year/$40 million dollar contract to coach the Lions.

Also in M football news, sophomore running back Max Martin will be transferring to Alabama.

I know he's a Michigan guy and all, but if Lloyd were to hire Mallory, he'd lose all credibility. Of course it'd probably lead to Wolverine Nation to decrease their anger to Jim Herrman. With Mallory having been fired, what's Nick going to do?

I can't help but wonder if Michigan is waiting for the Carolina Panther's season to be over to pursue Mike Trgovac. The rumors of coaching staff changes combined with a lack of any actual announcements makes me think somethings afoot. Or it could just be the usual case of NSA-like security.

But I wonder if Trgovac would be interested in making the move from being a DC in the NFL (and potential NFL head coaching prospect) to become a DC in college. Unless, of course, he made the move to college with an understanding/agreement that he would become the head coach soon.

The only thing that makes me think this is it just doesn’t make much sense to me to intend to make changes in the coaching staff—which reports indicate Michigan will—and then wait to do them. Schools need to make any coaching changes quickly so they can go and recruit.

The only explanations for delaying making it official are: one, the Michigan Athletic Department has no clue what they are doing, two, the coaches Michigan would like to bring in are turning them down and it’s all being done privately, or three, the coach they want is in the NFL and on a team that’s still playing. If it’s the latter, waiting is the right thing to do, don’t want to do a Michigan State with Bill Martin calling Trgovac’s cell phone during Carolina’s game against Chicago.

The flip side of this is that I can’t see any NFL DC—especially one as successful as Trgovac—willing to be a college DC.

Still, the thought of Michigan with a defense like the Panthers—3rd in total yards, 4th in rushing yards, 5th in scoring, 2nd in takeaways—is as arousing as an FSU Cowgirl french-kissing a Texas Pom Girl.

There's also a good chance that there's no delay in shaking up the coaching staff because there will be no shakeup. We're basing our beliefs that there will be changes on one newspaper column and our hopes and dreams.

Heaven will feature Michigan defenses that constanty sack mobile quarterbacks, force three and outs, and routinely return interceptions for touchdowns celebrated by attractive young women in maize and blue chaps and hotpants caressing and french kissing each other while the marching band plays 'The Victors.'

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